Casualty

As with varnish red and

Dripped his hair; his feet looked rigid;

Raised, he settled stiffly sideways:

You could see his hurts were spinal.

He had fallen from an engine,

And been dragged along the metals.

It was hopeless, and they knew it;

So they covered him, and left him.

As he lay, by fits half sentient,

Inarticulately moaning,

With his stockinged soles

Stark and awkward from the blankets,

To his bed there came a woman,

Stood and looked and sighed a little,

And departed without speaking,

As himself a few hours after.

I was told it was his sweetheart.

They were on the eve of marriage.

She was quiet as a statue,

But her lip was grey and writhen.